Holy See Press Release (September 14, 2011)

On September 14, 2011, at the headquarters of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, His Eminence the Most Reverend Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of that Congregation and President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, His Excellency Archbishop Luis Ladaria, S.J., Secretary of that Congregation, and Monsignor Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, met with His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, and Fathers Niklaus Pfluger and Alain-Marc Nély, General Assistants of the Society.

After a petition was sent on December 15, 2008, by the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, the Holy Father decided to lift the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and at the same time to begin doctrinal discussions with the Society, so as to overcome the difficulties and problems of a doctrinal nature and to remedy the existing break.* [*The medical expression used in the original French text means “to set a fracture”.]

Obeying the Holy Father’s will, a joint study commission made up of experts of the Society of Saint Pius X and experts of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith assembled eight times for meetings that took place in Rome between October 2009 and April 2011.  The objective of these talks was to set forth and examine in depth the major doctrinal difficulties on the disputed topics;  they achieved their purpose, which was to clarify the respective positions and their motivations.

Having considered the concerns and requests presented by the Society of Saint Pius X in connection with respect for the integrity of the Catholic faith as opposed to the hermeneutic of rupture that interprets the Second Vatican Council as a break with Tradition—a hermeneutic mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI in his Address to the Roman Curia on December 22, 2005—the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith takes as the fundamental basis for full reconciliation with the Apostolic See the acceptance of the Doctrinal Preamble that was delivered during the meeting on September 14, 2011.  This preamble enunciates some of the doctrinal principles and criteria for interpreting Catholic doctrine that are necessary in order to guarantee fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and to sentire cum Ecclesia [thinking with the Church], while leaving open for legitimate discussion the study and theological explanation of particular expressions or formulations found in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and of the subsequent Magisterium.

During the same meeting several elements were proposed with a view to a canonical solution for the Society of Saint Pius X, which would follow the eventual and hoped-for reconciliation.

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Comunicado de prensa de la Santa Sede (14 septiembre 2011)
Communiqué de presse du Saint-Siège (14 septembre 2011)
Comunicado de imprensa da Santa Sede (14 de setembro de 2011)
Pressekommuniqué
Comunicado de imprensa da Santa Sede (14 de setembro de 2011)